Bike sales soften in 2023
Words NZ Autocar | Images Various
Local sales of new motorcycles and mopeds over 50cc fell slightly last year as the cost of living crisis hit home.
Overall, sales of 6860 new machines fell below the total registered in 2020 (7108), 2021 (8650) and 2022 (7841). Sales of new and used machines, however, totalled above 10,000 units (10,140). Adventure bikes and cruisers remained popular.
Honda was top of the new bike pops with 1204 units retailed, followed by Suzuki on 1061 and Yamaha on 781. Next in line was Harley Davidson with 558 new bike sales. Kawasaki (413) just edged Royal Enfield (404) but both were eclipsed by KTM with new bike sales of 512 units and Triumph with 476. BMW in a rebuilding phase managed 279 sales while Ducati moved 257 units.
Other notables were Ubco with 238 sales in 2023, Indian with 223 units moved, and CFMoto with 163 bikes sold.
Good sellers for Honda included the Rebel 500 (83), its CB500XA adventure bike (89) and the Transalp (75), along with its small commuter and farm bikes.
Kawasaki’s Z400 and Ninja 400 totalled over 100 units, while KTM’s 390 pair (Adventure and Duke) managed over 150 sales.
The most popular Royal Enfield model was amongst its newest, the Super Meteor 650 cruiser with 109 sales.
Triumph’s best sellers were its two LAMS machines, the Trident and Tiger Sport, which went to 120 new owners.
Yamaha’s most popular bike was its Tenere 700 with 127 sales.
